LIFE AND LETTERS OF DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT INCLUDING HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DATA CONCERNING THE CASE OF ALEXIS ST. MARTIN BY JESSE S. MYER, A. B., M. D. ASSOCIATE IN MEDICINE IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ST. LOUIS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR WILLIAM OSLER, BT., M. D., F. R. S. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE IN OXFORD UNIVERSITY, ENGLAND WITH FIFTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS ST. LOUIS C. V. MOSBY COMPANY PREFACE This biographic sketch of William Beaumont is presented on the hundredth anniversary of his entry into the practice of medicine. Just a century ago June 9, 1812-he was granted a license by the Third Medical Society of the State of Vermont to practice "physic and surgery," and a decade later-June 6, 1822-destiny let fall in his path the opportunity which he recognized, grasped, and improved with a zeal and an unselfishness not excelled in the annals of medical science. Ever since that time the story of Dr. Beaumont and the case of Alexis St. Martin has had a peculiar fascination for persons in various walks of life-from the schoolboy, who gains his first knowledge of the incident from his "Essentials of Physiology," to the scientist, who, by comparison of Beaumont's work with the most recent developments in the physiology of digestion, marvels at the thoroughness of this remarkable piece of research, conducted by a young army officer under the most discouraging circumstances. Though there have been a number of brief biographic sketches of Beaumont presented in the form of addresses on various occasions, they have dealt with the man largely from the standpoint of his contribution to medical science, under the general assumption, no doubt, that little was to be learned of other phases and stages of his life. This impression was likewise shared by me until through my studies the various chapters of his life began to unfold, when my greatest difficulty was, not how to obtain sufficient material for his biography, but how to condense into a volume of reasonable size the mass of facts gathered from hitherto unexplored sources. The investigation once begun, hidden treasures of information were revealed without number. The nucleus of this work was formed from the contents of two old chests found in possession of Mrs. Sarah Beaumont Keim, who at the age of four score years and ten still lives in the city of St. Louis, where her father, Dr. Beaumont, spent the last twenty years of his life and where his remains lie buried. To her my profound thanks are due for the great privilege of delving into those old records of the past. These strong boxes proved to be a veritable storehouse of biographic material in the form of documents, manu |
